1. Technical Field
The invention relates to remittances. More particularly, the invention relates to a system and process for a global remittance platform not anchored to a particular account and can therefore work with both bank partners and non-bank partners, and account holders and non-account holders.
2. Description of the Prior Art
With the advent of the information age and of the Internet, globalization is affecting many aspects of an individual's lifestyle. As each decade passes, previously unimaginable improvements are created upon the previous decade's advances. With respect to increased global mobility, workers are finding themselves working in one country but wanting to deposit a portion of or all of their income into an account in a different country, typically the country of origin.
It is possible today for a bank customer to open an account in a first bank in a first country that has a business relationship with a second bank in a second country. It is possible for same customer to link the first account to a second account in the second bank so that an international deposit, or remittance, can be effected. Of course, the transfer of funds has to take into account exchange rates, domestic and international regulation and compliance, and so on.
H. Jennings, N. Pinnell, K. Do, V. Shah, M. Profumo, J. Downing, N. Goodhand, M. Maino, and M. H. Thompson, U.S. Pat. No. 5,659,165, CUSTOMER-DIRECTED, AAUTOMATED PROCESS FOR TRANSFERRING FUNDS BETWEEN ACCOUNTS VIA A COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK, (Aug. 19, 1997) discusses a way to transfer funds between accounts via a communications network and, in particular, across international borders and in different currencies. Jennings et al discuss a system for transferring funds instantly to an account maintained in the same or another bank business through the use of a terminal such as an ATM, home banking phone, personal computer, conventional telephone or the like. The system allows funds to be transferred to an account based on customer information, which can be automatically accessed by the system, rather than needing to be manually entered. Further, the system automatically computes the appropriate exchange rate and any fees to be charged to the account and displays them to the user so that the user may authorize or cancel the transaction. The disclosure discusses analyzing the parameters of the transfer for conformance with pertinent government regulations. The disclosure discusses the user to quantify the amount to be transferred in the currency of the originating account or the currency of the receiving account. The disclosure discusses being designed so that it can be understood and accessed by individuals having no special expertise in computers, wire transfers and the like. Finally, the disclosure discusses various safeguards to assure that only authorized individuals have access to the accounts and the funds. However, the teachings require an account-to-account transfer.
Currently, it is also possible that an individual can transfer a particular amount of cash in a single transaction to an associated site in a second and different country where a second individual can retrieve the cash, assuming incorporating an exchange rate and other requirements. As example of such a business is Western Union, owned by Western Union Holdings, Inc.
However, people are getting increasingly savvy and expect almost instant gratification. They want more options and without hassles.
It would be advantageous to provide an integrated system and process that is more flexible and integrates and offers an anything to anything type of remittance.
It would be advantageous to provide an integrated system and process that is more flexible and integrates and offers any of the following types of global remittances: account to account, account to cash, cash to account, and cash to cash.
It would further be advantageous for such an integrated system and process to allow bank partners of an enterprise to participate in a global remittance program.
It would further be advantageous for such an integrated system and process to be private-labeled, e.g. on behalf of the bank but using the infrastructure of the enterprise.
It would further be advantageous for such an integrated system and process to provide a dynamic transaction disclosure receipt (DTDR) that provides all the details of an individual's transaction.